The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-06-03

| out. he would not ike ~ 10 10 KNOWN toot 0e
had been calling on an Englishman.
1John," said 6ilas Croft, suddenly, "you
must 20 up to Pretoria and fetch Jees. Mark
my words, the Beers will besiege Pretoria,
and il we don't get her down At once she viii
he shut up there" -.
@Oh, no." cried Bessie, in sudden alarm, u
cannot let John CO."
~ am sorry to hear you talk like that, Bes.
sic, when your sister is in danger" answered
her uncle. rather sternly; "but there, dare
say that it Is natural. Twill 60 myself. Where
Is Jantjei shall want the Cape cart aud the
four gray horses"
"No, uncle dear, John shall 60. Twas not
thinking what was saying 1t seemed-a
little hard at first"
"Of course / must CO." said John. "Dont
fret, dear; shall be back in five days. Those
four horses can 60 sixty miles ddy for that
time, and more. They are fat a. butter. and
there il lots OF grass along the road II can't
get forage for them. Besides, the cart will
be nearly empty, so can carry mud OF
mealies and fifty bundles of forage with me-
will take that Zulu boy, Mouti (medicine),
with me- He does not know much about
horses, but he Is a plucky fellow, and would
stick by one at a pinch. One can't rely on
Jantje; he is always sneaking of somewhere,
and would be sure to get drunk just a. one
wanted him"
ayes, yes, John, that's right, that's right"
said the old man. II will go and see about
having the horses got up and the wheels
creased. Where is the castor oil, Bessiei
There is nothing like castor oil for these
patent axles You ought to be of in ON hour.
You had better sleep at Luck's tonight; you
might get farther, but Luck's Is q good place
to stop, and they win look after you well
there, and you can be Oh by 8 In the morning
and be at Heidelberg by 10 o'clock tomorrow
night and in Pretoria by the next afternoon"
and he hustled of to make the necessary
preparations. ... .e.'
"Oh, john" said Bessie, beginning to cry, u
don't like your going at all among those wild
Beers. You are an English officer, and IL
they find you out they will shoot you. You
don't know what brutes some Of them are
when they think it safe to be 90. Oh, John,
John, can't bear your going"
aCheer up. my dear, }" said John, land for
Heavens sake stop crying, for can't bear it
I must 60. Your uncle would never forgive
me il didn't, and, what Is more, should
never forgive myself. There is nobody else
to 60, end we can't leave jess to be shut up
there in Pietoria-for months perhaps. As
for the risk, of course there is a bit OF risk,
but must take it. ON not afraid of risks
at least used not to be, but you have made
a bit of a coward of me, Bessie dear. There,
give me Hiss, old girl, and come and help
me to pack my things Please God I shall
get back all right, and jess with me, in
week from now"
Wherein Bessie, being sensible and emil
nently practical young woman, dried her
tears, and with cheerful face, albeit her
heart was heavy enough, set to work with
will to make every preparation she could
think of. The few clothes John was going to
take with him were packed in q Gladstone
bag, and the box that was arranged under
meath the movable seat in the Cape cart
% 's much Sss si in south Rca ana ri he
other little arrangements, small in themselves,
but of such infinite Importance to the trav-
eler in a wild country, were duly attended to
by her careful hands. Then came hurried
meal and before it was swallowed the cart was
at the door, with Jantje hanging as usual on
to the heads Of the two front horses, and the
stalwart Zulu, or rather Swat boy, Mout,
whose sole luggage appeared to consist OF
bundle of assegais and sticks wrapped up in a
grass mat, and who, hot as it was, was en-
veloped in vast military great coat, loung-
ing placidly alongside.
Good by, John, dear john" said Bessie,
kissing him again and again, and striving to
keep lack the tears that, do what she could,
would gather in her blue eyes. GOOD by,
my love"
"God bless you, dearest" he said, simply,
kissing her in answer; "good by, Mr.. Croft,
I hope to see you again in week." and he
was in the cart and had gathered up the long
and intricate looking reins Jantje let 60
the horses heads and gave whoop. Mouti,
giving up star gazing, suddenly became an
animated being and scrambled into the cart
with surprising alacrity; the horses sprang
forward at hand gallop and were soon hid
den from Bessie's dim sight in cloud of dust.
Poor Bessie! 1t was hard trial; and now
that John had gone and her tears could not
distress him, she went into her room and
gave way to them freely enough.
John reached Luck's, an establishment on
the Pretoria road that happily combined the
characteristics of an inn, shop and farm
house, such as are to be met with in sparsely
populated countries. 1t was not an inn and
not farm house, strictly speaking, nor was
it altogether a shop, though there was a
sVOre' aCCacneu. II the traveller were anx- |
ious to obtain accommodation for man and
beast at place Of this stamp he had to pro-
coed warily, SO to speak. lest he should be re-
quested to move on. He must advance, hat
in hand, and ask to be taken in as a favor, as
many high handed traveller, accustomed to
the obsequious attentions of "mine host"
has learned to his cost There is no
such dreadful autocrat as your half and half
inn keeper in South Africa, and then he is so
completely master Of the situation. III you
don't like it, go and be id to you," is his |
simple answer to the remonstrances of the
Infatuated voyager. And then you mus:
either knock under and look as though you
liked it, or trek on into the "unhosteled"
wilderness. On this occasion, however, John |
Jared well enough. To begin with be knew
the owners of this place, who were very civil |
people if approached in a humble spirit, and,
furthermore, he found everybody in such a |
state of unpleasurable excitement that they
were only too glad to get another Englishman
to talk the matters over with. Not that
their information amounted to much, how
ever. There was rumor Of the Bronker's |
Spruit disaster and other rumors of the in
vestment of Pretoria and of the advance Of !